Mardi Gras Film Festival favourites go west

THE Mardi Gras Film Festival is back for an encore performance next month, with a limited season announced at Parramatta in Sydney’s west.

Five of the most popular films from last month’s festival will screen at the suburb’s Riverside Theatre between Friday 4 and Sunday 6 April.

Titles chosen for the extension to the film festival include drama, comedy and documentary features.

Mardi Gras Film Festival director Paul Struthers said the Parramatta screenings were, for the first time, being shown after the main festival in Sydney had concluded.

“By separating the Parramatta screenings from the rest of the festival not only can we put more of a spotlight on this important event in western Sydney, we’re also giving people a second chance to see some of the season’s sell out films.”

Three of the films being shown at Riverside Theatre —G.B.F., Pit Stop and Who’s Afraid of Vagina Wolf— sold out of tickets when shown in Sydney last month.

Other Parramatta highlights include Valentine Road, a documentary about a gay US high school student killed when he revealed his feelings to a classmate, and African production Born This Way.

The latter, Struthers said, was an “excellent documentary about LGBTI rights in Cameroon which while shocking is also inspiring showing how these communities continue to exist despite the pressures they are under.”

The organisers said that following their initial popularity in February’s festival, they couldn’t guarantee the Parramatta screenings wouldn’t similarly sell out: “The titles we’ve picked are all high quality films and, just like in Sydney, we’re expecting a high turnout from audiences.”